A Great Morning - Worth Sharing

For those who are OK with a pinch of Levity

I typically roll out of bed around 5AM, with the steady traffic on Main Street being my most dependable “alarm clock.” But that’s not when I wake up - my mind starts spinning way before that. This has been the case for a few months now, which just so happens to be about the time I started this new blog. As my very young son used to say: “What a quinkydink.”

Well this morning ( May 4) started out pretty much per usual, but when I was in that quasi sleep state, I was startled with an “Ah Ha” moment. I recalled that, as of last night, the wind direction, speed, dew point, and temperature were supposed to align just right for me to go flying - today! My VERY light airplane is particularly unruly with any substantial winds, so good flying days are a rare treat. So, with a sprinkling of cars going by, I sprang out of bed to check the updated weather — and the forecast was just fine, though a predicted temp in the mid 40’s kept it from being great.

So over the next two hours I excitedly got ready, had some coffee, cold cereal, donned some layers, grabbed my gas can and was off. I say excitedly because I’m still in awe of flying, especially after a long lapse due to life getting in its way. For many thousands of years, humans have been looking up, admiring the birds and wishing that they could be just like our fine-feathered friends - and today I got to!

Photo Dan Johnson - and his Quicksilver Sprint (Mine is Blue and Yellow)

As I approached the airport, a hundred yards from the Illinois border, the wet grass had that rich green color that only spring can offer. The wind, as billed, was almost perfect so I performed my preflight inspection on “ Aerie” which basically consists of checking to make sure that hundreds of nuts, bolts, wires and cables are bonding appropriately. And they were, so I spun the prop and taxied to runway two-five.

With the engine temps normal, my altimeter set, and the wind coming straight down the runway, I opened the throttle. Within about a hundred feet or so - we were airborne. I still find it amazing that - when a little bit of Dacron, is stirred up with some aluminum, some money, and a hundred years of ingenuity - what we get is true magic.

Between some minor glitches with my plane build and issues with my repurposed drone engine, my prior flights had been limited to 800 feet above the airport. But today, after a good recent flight, I like John Denver, was free to "slip the surly bonds of earth" . . .

Over the next forty-five minutes I continued to do some important flight testing of my fledgling. I checked out some beautiful vistas from three thousand feet - including two lakes, twenty-five miles away. I watched a crew burying new gas lines along a road, between two large farms. As I did a wide, gently banked turn above those fields, I got to take in a much bigger picture - one where the smaller things that divide us are just sooo tiny. And I saw life in America’s heartland - a small city off to the west and a glowing ball of fire to the east - reminding me that this is a new day. Another one to try to move the needle of compassion and justice ever so slightly, in the right direction.